The State of Connecticut Department of Public Health PAR-16-099 NARMS Cooperative Agreement Program to Enhance and Strengthen Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance in Retail Food Specimens Project Summary/Abstract The Connecticut Department of Public Health (CT DPH) State Public Health Laboratory (SPHL) participated in the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) retail meat program through Food and Drug Administration/Center for Veterinary Medicine (FDA/CVM) from 2002 to 2016. The purpose of this surveillance was to monitor the prevalence and trends of antimicrobial resistance in foodborne isolates of Salmonella, Campylobacter, Escherichia coli and Enterococcus. This application will seek funding to support CT DPH SPHL?s participation in the NARMS antibiotic resistance surveillance of retail food samples including a designated personnel who will be responsible for all aspects of this surveillance. Specific duties of this position will include: (a) purchasing 40 retail meat samples from ten randomly selected grocery stores throughout Connecticut twice a month for a total of 80 samples, samples include 40 chicken parts, 20 ground turkey, 10 ground beef and 10 pork chops (b) performing all phases of testing including initial enrichments and culture testing for the identification of Salmonella, Campylobacter, Escherichia coli and Enterococcus isolates following protocols provided by FDA/CVM (c) entering all sample information and results into the Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) and completing all NARMS required paperwork; (d) shipping all isolates monthly to FDA/CVM for serotyping, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and genetic analysis (e) submitting all required NARMS paperwork electronically (f) performing necessary quality assurance/quality control functions. Additionally, the CT DPH SPHL will perform whole genome sequencing (WGS) on all of Salmonella, Campylobacter, Escherichia coli and Enterococcus isolates. All whole genome sequencing will be performed in the Advanced Molecular Detection (AMD) section. Clusters of 2 or more WGS-matched isolates, clinical or clinical and food, (local or multistate involving CT) prompt same-day notification from State Laboratory to CT epidemiologists to facilitate a rapid and complete investigation. From 9/1/2014 ? 8/31/2016, the CT DPH SPHL processed 1760 samples for this project including: 820 chicken, 440 ground turkey, 250 ground beef, and 250 pork chops. The CT DPH SPHL recovered 77 isolates of Salmonella and 61 isolates of Campylobacter from retail meat samples purchased at Connecticut grocery stores from 9/1/2014 to 8/31/2016. The CT DPH SPHL looks forward to participation in this program to provide data for the improvement of the detection and surveillance of resistance among foodborne bacteria.